July was a month of firsts for Toronto FC. First new contract for a manager, first MLS goal for not one, not two, but three players and all Canadian to boot; and of course first place for a lot of the month. I can only speak for myself but I’m a little sad to see it go, but optimistic to see out the summer.

Congratulations are in order for Raheem Edwards’ first MLS goal. It didn’t dawn on me that it was his first until hours later when I happened upon Jay Chapman’s tweet congratulating him. It seemed absurd that his first goal came in the dying embers of July when all season he’d been making huge contributions to the team, be it just by coming off the bench and injecting the team with some much needed energy, or handing out assists like gifts. He’s become so important to the team’s success I nearly forgot how new he is to the scene, not to mention how young.

Massive win today! Thanks to all the fans for the great support today, and congrats to my guy @Rvheem_ on his first MLS goal! 💪🏻#top

It was a beautiful afternoon for a beautiful game in our beautiful stadium. The whole day had a glow about it. It’s safe to say at this point that Toronto FC loves playing NYCFC, and Sebastian Giovinco loves it most. In the past year Toronto FC have managed to absolutely steamroll NYCFC 13-2 across 4 games with Giovinco bagging a hat trick in one and a brace in another.

The highlight of the game for me came from the blessing I have to be a Season Seat Holder in the south end Supporters’ Section of BMO Field. I got to bear witness to a small moment not entirely caught on camera that is one of those moments that reminds me why I love the beautiful game.

It was the 75th minute and Toronto FC were awarded a penalty; Giovinco got to the ball first. He picked it up and held it against his chest. He could probably taste the hat trick only seconds away from his clutch. But then he must have thought of Jozy Altidore, of the players we had just gotten back from International Duty and whom Seba looked absolutely delighted to be reunited with. Especially Jozy (the jumbotron had been playing a slow-motion replay of Seba running into Jozy’s arms on the first goal throughout the game).

He marched up to Jozy and proffered the ball to him but Jozy said no at first. The second time Seba held the ball out to Jozy he took it reluctantly, and a hush seemed to fall over the south end. We had seen Jozy miss penalties before, and he looked none too comfortable as he set the ball down and stood back for the whistle. “Come on, Jozy!” a few of us yelled in support.

If Jozy had turned for one last look at Seba in that moment, I’m sure Seba would have offered a wink and a thumbs up. It was with the confidence of Seba, the rest of the team, and the fans that Jozy stepped forward and keenly shot the penalty kick home, effectively burying NYCFC by making it 3-0 with only 15 minutes remaining. Of course, Raheem would hammer in the nails at the very end with our 4th.

A first MLS goal for a Toronto native@Rvheem_ reflects on an afternoon to remember

That show of sportsmanship is extra special to me coming from Seba, who was accused of selfishness early this season for an outburst. As a Toronto supporter, nothing makes me happier than seeing players come to our city and learn to love Toronto and the team. Seba showed that on Sunday with his enthusiasm, work ethic, and team effort. There’s no better ways we could have asked for to close out the month than 4 goals and a clean sheet in the Six and in the sun.

My only point of contention? I’m a bit perturbed that Jay Chapman lost a starting spot though it was not unexpected. He will perpetually face the issue many of our Canadians guys face which is to compete in a deep squad, particularly in the midfield, and Jay has it the hardest when guys like Michael Bradley and Victor Vazquez are effectively pushing him out of the team. Still, he came off the bench and got the minutes he deserved so I can’t say I’m too disappointed.

Quick shout out to the David Villa jersey wearing NYCFC fan who travelled from New York to stand in the Supporters’ Section. I’d apologize for the torrent of chanting you endured but it was just way too much fun taunting you for the majority of the second half. Thank you for being a good sport about it and my condolences that you chose to stand amongst the most loyal of Toronto FC fans.

Here’s hoping that August is as fruitful as July! See you all this weekend when TFC travels to D.C. to face D.C. United on their home turf.

I may not have explicitly stated this, but let’s all accept that I had taken a vow of silence until Jay Chapman got his first MLS goal and move on, shall we? There’s something bittersweet about it when, just 3 days before, I sat at my keyboard to angrily tap out—with stills as evidence—just how he was robbed by a shoddy offside call in the New York City FC game. No matter now, our boy has done it and he did it at home! My exaltation could be felt throughout the south end. He made us all proud.

I will also reiterate a common theme I’ve seen tossed around the Toronto FC circles over the past week, which is if Jay had have been able to finish out the game we would have walked off the pitch with 3 points instead of 1. He was my clear vote for Player of the Match and in his absence the team fell a bit in their graces and we conceded a goal on a bad turnover from Armando Cooper. It wasn’t, however, without a plucky performance from Raheem Edwards who came on as a sub and tried his utmost to save the game. Needless to say the Canadians boys did me proud that day, even if the result didn’t.

Not for the first time, I find I have to prevent myself from writing an entire article about one of our Canadian prides, but I will take a short reprieve to complain a little. I speak from a place of complete bias but the refereeing was, to put it lightly, deplorable. I have never seen a team waste so much time writhing on the ground in apparent pain with the ref doing little to prevent it or to fairly allot stoppage time accordingly, despite the protests of our players.

Colorado Rapid fans I wish to remain on good terms with, please cover your eyes – but to be frank if that were my team I’d be embarrassed by that display of bad sportsmanship. That is not how you beg for a point, not in my house. But apparently in ref Guzman and co.’s books that is how you rustle up a point and it doesn’t even count towards injury time. Maybe because he knew as well as we did the “injuries” were questionable.

Of course the draw is not to be attributed solely to the histrionics of the Colorado players in the final 10 minutes. We were lackluster at times and we could have put the game to bed in the first half with half a dozen clear cut chances we couldn’t capitulate on. Nonetheless, it left a bad taste in my mouth to end the game on such a sour note when we had brought on a Raheem Edwards who was ready to run his way back to a win.

Since early July our squad has been depleted by players away on International duty for the Gold Cup, as well as, injury and during that time we managed to pick up 5 points in 4 games and maintain a 2 point lead at the top of the table, albeit with a game in hand. To be honest, I’m not too sure what to make of that.

TFC fans have been positively spoiled of late, and I’ve come to expect wins nearly all the time. However, we managed to keep our feet beneath us with a squad that didn’t have a lot of experience playing together and some of the greener players were able to show us what they’re made of.

I hope manager Greg Vanney remembers that down the line, after a second season of Jay Chapman showing us just what he can be capable of after a run of games. I remain optimistic and I know a lot of us were worried about dropping points during this stretch. At any rate we survived it, our squad is slowly returning to full strength, and we are prepared to continue fighting for our place at the top.

It’s an exciting season with Toronto FC; we did the unprecedented in offering a coach a contract extension (no seriously, we’ve never done this before. Moving on up! [source]) and we boast what has been called the deepest team in MLS history (thanks, Greg![source]). We recently reached a franchise record of 6 consecutive wins [source], and the Montreal Impact are doing abysmally. For once in our lives, it’s easy being Red. So here’s to the coming weeks, closing out the summer on a high, and enjoying watching some quality football without our jackets on!

P.S. A huge congratulations as well for Ashtone Morgan. As I was on my vow of silence (ahem), I didn’t get to congratulate him before but I am extremely happy for him for the goal and for the blessing of being able to watch Ashtone come back into himself as a player. Another Canadian who has me welling up with pride at the moment!

The city is in the throes of shaking off one playoff bid (RIP Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL), we came, we fought, we built something great for next year) while simultaneously preparing for round two of another (Let’s go Toronto Raptors! (NBA) and in the midst of the tumult, Toronto FC comfortably plays out a 3-1 win at home to Chicago Fire.

To begin with, I much prefer this dynamic of losing followed by winning to the weird limbo that had been drawing 90% of our games. Now that we lost one it feels a lot more like we are on a trajectory to start winning and keep winning. Sebastian Giovinco was back! The team played well as a unit, and as annoyed as I am to have muddied a clean sheet in the final minutes, the back line is doing very well under the directives of Nick Hagglund. It’s been said he’s doing his best Drew Moor impression. Not sure that Drew agrees and regardless I hope we have Drew back to full health ASAP.

While I have the stage, I would like to clear the air about some behaviour we saw at BMO Field on Friday night and no, it’s not what you’re thinking. In the Toronto FC supporters’ sections we have a song we refer to as “The Bounce” and technically speaking, the Bounce is used only in the case of a win. It’s considered bad luck to Bounce before a game, after a game, basically any time and we should most certainly not Bounce during a game that we haven’t beyond reasonable doubt already won. Well. On Friday we were, to say the least, a little bit excited to be witnessing our first win at home. So much so that we may have, some of us, against the advice of others, started bouncing around the 85th minute…or maybe the 88th…

What I’m trying to say is, I now feel personally responsible for conceding a goal in the 88th minute, superstitious as I am, and would like to take this opportunity to release a formal apology. We could have had a clean sheet but we were soaring above the clouds and we decided we were safe enough to Bounce. Lesson learned! Probably. So once again, to the team and to the fans who were wise enough to have avoided the Bounce, I am truly sorry.

As for some other behaviours in BMO Field that have taken centre stage in other articles, I think that addressing Giovinco’s outburst (for lack of a better word) and my reaction to it is beyond the scope of this article. Suffice it to say his actions of hitting over a metal barricade pillar (seriously what are these things called, when subbed could easily be used to overshadow our entire performance and that sucks but, as someone with a platform to talk about Toronto FC, I’m not going to do that here. Not in this article, anyway.

What Seba did do that’s worth talking about is score a world class free kick in addition to a fine goal to open up the scoring in this match. It certainly looks like we are back to Seba at his best and if coach Greg Vanney has cleared up any ill feelings after that game then it’s cleared up for me as well (source).

In other news something really adorable also happened at the game! Last week I mentioned that Vanney’s mother had passed away, but I neglected to make the connection that as Greg Vanney’s nephew, this also means that Eriq Zavaleta’s grandmother passed away. I’d like to once again express my condolences to the family. It was very lovely to see Zav score his first goal of the season and run over to Vanney to celebrate in honour of someone who I’m sure meant a lot to them. It shows great strength of character on both their parts that they remained focused and present for the team during such a difficult time. For that, I’ll give Zav my Man of the Match vote! Always solid at the back, nice to see him getting on the end of goals as well. Keep up the good work as always.

Apparently I snap my finger and players get minutes so let me be more specific this time: Can Jay Chapman please get a start for us sometime. I think if he had a chance he’d make the most out of it and I’m ready to watch another Canadian rise (newsflash: I’m always ready). Apart from that, I’m extremely happy with the result. There’s something daunting about a World Cup winner, here, in the MLS, trying to win another World Cup, but we kept our heads (for the most part) and we played at what was very nearly our best. It helps also that we had a Canadian in the starting XI, and Raheem Edwards was as dependable as always. I’d also like to welcome Marky Delgado back into the fold. He’s one of our young players I’m always excited about and it was great to see him back at BMO Field and putting in a shift.

Lastly, I’d like to take a moment to say goodbye to Mo Babouli who TFC put on waivers earlier this week (source). I think my feelings can best be described as “disappointed but not surprised” as it was never going to be easy for him to break into the first team given our depth. I wish him all the best in his future and it was a pleasure to watch him play.

Nevertheless, and for the record, this is just a phrase and does count as a Bounce, the Reds go marching on…

It’s little surprise to anyone that our first loss of the season comes in the absence of Drew Moor. I wish Drew and his family all of the best and I’ve heard that the initially terrifying prospect of him being diagnosed with a heart condition may be something that can be dealt with within a couple of weeks. (source) It sounds like no one, including Drew, expects him to be out for long but I’ll breathe easier once he’s back.

Despite the absence of the Toronto FC rock in the back line, my personal favourite Nick Hagglund did a great job in Drew’s role, and although we were caught sleeping a few times, particularly on the header goal, Nick and Eriq Zavaleta both put shifts in and helped to lead the team from the back. It just, unfortunately, wasn’t enough for us as we fell 2-1 to Columbus Crew. It definitely smarts a bit more than it should served up by the team in yellow we play for the Trillium Cup.

Besides a defense that wasn’t as airtight as usual (again!), we also should have been scoring goals. We looked strong early on and managed to open the scoring but our midfield looked lacklustre especially in the second half; we quite obviously lacked in pace. It seems one of the things we are still tinkering with is the right midfield dynamic.

Having said that, what on earth is it going to take to see Jay Chapman get a minute? Any minute? Several of them preferably? We’ve yet to see our Canadian-born midfielder on the pitch this season and its high time we give him a try. He’s been dependable in the past and I’d love to see him get the chance he deserves. In the coming weeks I hope Greg Vanney explores our options and gives these young guys such as Raheem Edwards and Jay Chapman more opportunities.

It was a big night in Toronto and the Toronto Maple Leafs win helped to ease the pain of the Columbus loss. It made it easier for fans to look forward to change instead of the performances of the past few weeks in which we were barely holding on. Perhaps we should take a leaf out of our hockey team’s book and field more young players. It seems to be working wonders for them.

My Man of the Match talisman will be gratefully handed over to Nicky, as it’s been a pleasure to watch him develop under the direction of Drew Moor. Between Nick and Eriq we have a promising centre back pairing that I think we can eventually feel safe with. Even after conceding two goals I will comfortably say that our 4 or 5 at the back, however you look at it, were our strongest assets on the field. It’s only a matter of time before we start scoring goals again and our defense plays a series of games without a hitch. I believe in them.

Finally, my condolences to Greg Vanney and his family, it seems it’s been something of a difficult week at Toronto FC. It can’t have been easy juggling preparations for the game and even coaching it while dealing with a loss in the family. (source) It really feels like overall our team suffered a number of losses this week, not just on the field, and my only hope is we can move forward from here. To those who are going through some big changes in life at the moment, I will keep you in my thoughts, and to the rest of us: onwards and upwards.

Still undefeated, she croaks, the words dying in her throat, pneumonia and an ashy taste of mediocrity diminishing the conviction and the meaning of the phrase. That and I’d be lying if I didn’t say I wasn’t at least a little bit disappointed that I missed the Toronto Maple Leafs clinching an NHL playoff spot to watch Toronto FC squander away another 2 points. Nonetheless, we all go marching on.

If I wrote this piece on Saturday night after the match it would have been filled with hatred for Atlanta United FC; the rage I felt that night was one of an instant rivalry and, on second look, may not have been as deserved as I thought. I definitely saw red that night. Atlanta made me angry.

This was due in large part to the histrionics of not once but twice goalscorer Villalba and the fact that it happened right in front of me. To see a player doubled over when there was no clear contact to have caused such pain and a mere 15 feet from where I stood was infuriating. There was also a piece of play that was not caught on camera wherein the same player ran into Armando Cooper of his own volition and then threw himself to the ground as if struck. I got angry early on and I stayed angry.

However, from the safety of my living room I have given the game a second look and I now see an inaugural side full of attacking promise and a whole lot of character for a newly minted squad. And this without having seen what I’ve heard is one of their best players in Josef Martinez. We have only ourselves to blame for a pair of defensive mistakes that lost us 2 points.

As for the red that Atlanta saw, it’s hard to convey my exact feeling towards it.

Having seen the bump on Eriq’s head, it’s hard to argue that it wasn’t at the very least pretty vicious. Asad raised his elbow level with Zavaleta’s head knowingly and threw his arm out, an unquestionable foul with intent. What I’m not sure of is what the referee saw on first look. From my view at the south end there didn’t look like much to it but I know Zavaleta is not a player who goes down easily or for long which led me to believe it was serious.

In cases like this, a retrospective ban makes sense. It’s a big call for a referee to make without having a good view of it, and it seems pretty obvious the decision was made upon a video replay on the jumbotron which was seen and reacted to by the crowd and also quite clearly viewed by the fourth official. In my opinion and even at the expense of my own team, unless all big calls are made by video review then none should be. As far as I know, video replay has not yet taken effect in MLS.

Nonetheless, Atlanta need not have worried too much considering Toronto have what must be the worst possible record playing with a man advantage in the past few years (0W-1D-5L in the 2016 season including defeat to a San Jose less 2 men) and despite a win to Vancouver Whitecaps after Brek Shea’s sending off we don’t appear to be improving on that front. So despite being graced by video replay we failed to capitalize on the chance. As usual.

It’s hard to talk about an easily avoidable draw without pointing fingers in this case. However, despite being extremely partial to Nick Hagglund (and thanks to a friend reminding me of my bias) I won’t do what Vanney did and throw a player under the bus. If a player isn’t match fit as Chris Mavinga certainly did not look, it’s up to the manager and staff to decide. It also didn’t appear that Chris really had a proper understanding of his role in the 5-3-2 formation, a miscommunication which is not solely his fault.

When Nick Hagglund came on for Chris early in the second half it was technically a straight swap but visually it completely changed the shape of the team. Nick played yards forward from where Chris sat, and Nicky’s comfortable relationship with the other 2 centre backs and Alex Bono saw Drew Moor cover for Nick when caught out of position (where he wasn’t able to for Chris for both goals) and Bono quickly off his line to make saves he didn’t make earlier on in the game.

It’s easy to blame the new guy for what did look like some pretty rookie defensive mistakes, but if we want to make this team work it will require a more in depth look at where we need to improve. So welcome to the team, Chris, and I hope you see better days.

Besides the obvious errors of Chris Mavinga, Alex Bono also didn’t look his best. He appeared very out of sorts at times and didn’t really seem to get into the game until the second half. This could be in part a lack of playing time with Mavinga, paired with the fact that Bono is getting into the rhythm of regular minutes in the absence of Clint Irwin.

I know he’s better than he was on Saturday, which says quite a bit as he wasn’t all that bad. Most notable to me was his lack of distribution in the Atlanta game, normally he outranks Irwin in my books for goal kicks but on Saturday he just couldn’t seem to find his footing. I still have complete faith in our young back up, though.

On the bright side we finally saw Giovinco on the scoresheet, and what a beautiful goal it was. Jozy’s backheel was delightful and both Giovinco and Morrow’s goals came from clever play on Vazquez’ part. Our midfield was particularly good that night, with Michael putting in a top performance as usual and Armando Cooper the best I’ve seen him. I say this all begrudgingly as we have once again seen an XI without a single Canadian player.

I know Vanney is rotating but I hope in future he’ll incorporate more Canadians into each side and not 3 one night and 0 another. This gameweek I will break apart the MotM crown and hand a piece each to Victor Vazquez and Armando Cooper. It says a lot about their performance that I am giving them these plaudits as they have both crowded my two favourite Canadian players out of the team.

It’s time for me to take another few days to shake off the pneumonia I caught on that freezing wet home opener, and hopefully for the team to also shake off the cobwebs and gain momentum in what we all hope will be another successful season. And for the big hockey games to be played before we see Toronto FC back in the 6, Go Leafs Go!

Toronto FC song(s) of the match: Have You Ever Seen the Rain? By Creedence Clearwater Revival AND Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head by B.J. Thomas

I’ve got CCR on repeat and I’m trying to find inspiration in a game that was all washed out. We came, we sang, we drew, we froze half to death. That’s not to say I don’t still have complete faith in this team, that’s not to say I’m not proud we’re still undefeated in the league, but things are starting to feel a bit repetitive.

3 out of 4 games draws, 2 of them scoreless, and one relatively late winner that was more than overdue. And still Sebastian Giovinco hasn’t scored.

Don’t get me wrong, it felt so good to be home. Too good! So good I’ll forgive the cold that settled in my bones and the strange feeling that I had just taken a dip in Lake Ontario on my way to the stadium. Boy did it rain! But still.

Being among the fans again, singing our hearts out, it just felt so right. I hope the players felt it too. I hope BMO Field instills in them the same passion it does me and the thousands of others who sang and cheered like we could still feel the tips of our fingers. And to the Inebriatti guy who still took his shirt off in the second half; you’re really something else! That is passion.

I was, to say the least, not amused last game when we fielded a starting XI without a single Canadian player in it. Raheem Edwards silenced anyone who could have thought that was for the best when he set up a great goal off the bench in Vancouver and Jonathan Osorio asked questions too with his assist.

Edwards is still silencing any dissent with his phenomenal performance on Friday night against Sporting Kansas City. The kid was everywhere! The ground he must have covered! He provided a great option in the absence of Justin Morrow and he was well served in a 3-5-2 formation, a very attack minded player but not without his defensive prowess. Particularly impressive was his far post header save in the dying minutes of the game, a moment that could have proven the difference for SKC. This young local guy has my man of the match vote and I sincerely hope we consider him as more than just a stand in for future games.

Speaking of Canadian players, after reminding myself a dozen times this is not an article about Jonathan Osorio, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge that it’s okay to sky a few shots! I know nobody is going to be as upset about this as he is but it’s worth noting that besides missing 3 sitters he had a pretty good game overall. Good passing, good positioning, his defensive game has improved a lot lately, and he always has a good read on the game. The shooting can be practiced! I only hope he isn’t too hard on himself, and finds the positives in his game as well as the room for improvement.

Finally, we unfortunately saw Clint Irwin forced off on injury late in the first half which is never ideal. I wish him the speediest recovery and I’m hearing he’ll miss 4-5 weeks with a hamstring strain. I’m just so glad we have an extremely capable backup by way of Alex Bono. He rose to the occasion and he got that clean sheet and he made two great saves in the process. It’s really nice to have not one, but two goalkeepers in whose hands I feel completely safe.

To my fellow fans: I’m so happy to see you again, we had a great first game back and you lot always make BMO Field the best place to be in the world. To the players: Welcome home and see you in a week. Undefeated, baby!

I had to laugh a little when, on my way to my Away Day pub of choice, I opened the starting XI tweet to find a side unchanged from our playoff run. It had this feel of continuity to it I wasn’t expecting, and it immediately brought me back to those final days, in all its glory and…well…the other stuff.

It resonated with me because what I wanted, what I think a lot of us wanted, was bloodshed. A group of players returning to the game with a vengeance, with something to prove, with the pain of loss still burning in their veins the way it was in ours. What we ended up with is a team in persistence. A team not just with something to prove, but ongoing in its mission to prove we still have everything to play for.

As nice as it would have been to start the season with a knockout win, to shake off the specter of our first MLS Cup loss and hit the ground running, I’m glad we’ve started as a team that looks ready to take the season in stride. That resonates with me too.

It’s not as often as I’d like that I can compliment a Toronto FC side for not falling asleep at all in a match and for maintaining its shape well, and that’s a positive I’d like to point out from this game. We had some great chances, created by some of the players who struggled most in the game, and despite having less than our fair share of possession we looked equally likely to take 3 points.

My men of the match have to be Jozy Altidore for doing a lot of work at both ends of the pitch, getting into good positions, and having great control most times he was on the ball, as well as Eriq Zavaleta for making some vital interceptions, providing cover in some weak moments and for the pleasure I take in watching him grow as a player every single week. Also, he didn’t play, but shout out to Tosaint Ricketts who, if we had have utilized a third sub (uhhh Greg Vanney? Please, mate!), I’m pretty confident could have been the difference between the two teams tonight.

We also got a glimpse of one of our new guys, Victor Vazquez. He didn’t have a chance to do much but the way he started influencing the game looked promising. Though what didn’t look promising is him replacing Jonathan Osorio because I’m never happy to have 11 players on the field without a single Canadian player representing us. Objectively, I’m excited to see what Vazquez can bring to the table. Still sore about the loss of one Will Johnson though. Miss you, buddy.

I’m a sucker for moments of personality on the pitch, so let me end this with the biggest show of personality in this match, though unfortunately not from our own player and at the expense of our one big chance to win the game. Nick Rimando, anger pouring out of him ceaselessly as he waits for the penalty kick to be taken, cursing the ref up until beyond the whistle, when he paused in his unending appeal for mercy to lean ever so slightly to his right before diving to save the left-sided penalty we all knew Sebastian ‘Seba’ Giovinco would take.

At any rate, it’s a bitter irony that one of our greatest pieces of play was the counter-attacking football that led to the penalty earned. If there’s any take-aways from the game I’ll say it was these: a certain atomic someone needs to start mixing it up with his penalty kicks, and we are thus far undefeated this season! So heads held high, fellow Reds, and let’s see what our boys have in store for us this year.

I’m Cris, Toronto native and Toronto FC supporter. I’m also a member of the Kings in the North Toronto Supporter’s Group. As such, let me start with a very simple and well known idea that embodies our club and our city: The North Remembers.

10.14.15 – He drove straight from Pearson airport to BMO Field. In not much more than the time it takes to head down the 401 to Montreal, Sebastian Giovinco had crossed the Atlantic to be here in front of me, changed and warming up, ready and eager to play. Elsewhere in Toronto a baseball stadium let out a cheer as loud as an explosion as the Toronto Blue Jays fought to keep themselves in the post-season a little longer. Bautista hit a three-run homer and BMO applauded the Blue Jays win irrespective of what was happening on our own pitch at that moment. A truly historic night in Toronto.

Many Toronto FC fans will remember this night forever. Giovinco off the bench to score the most beautiful individual goal I’d ever seen. Clutching my friend next to me, tears springing to my eyes and disbelief sending waves of shock through the entire stadium. 34,000 people held their breath and then screamed like we had won the lottery. That’s what our first playoff clinch in franchise history feels like. That’s what Sebastian Giovinco feels like. That’s what TFC feels like.

Last season the franchise celebrated a decade in Major League Soccer. 10 years in the MLS and most of the collective memory is one of disappointment. Of what had once been branded “the worst team in the world.” But that night when Sebastian Giovinco rushed back from Italy for international duty, to be there in our squad and to score that goal to get us into the playoffs for the first time ever, for me, represents the changing fate of this city.

To whittle it down a bit, here’s where I started, what I’ll never forget. As a female soccer fan, I struggled to find a place for myself in supporting culture due to lack of people in my life who shared my interest. For years I dragged uninvested friends and family to games whenever I could but I was running out of people and I always wanted more. One game I took my dad to, a very wet one as there was heavy rain that day, he marveled at the Supporters Groups across the pitch from us. He loved the energy, the steady pulse of the drums, the fact that they did not slow down even as the torrential downpour fell heavily upon the stadium and it gave me the idea that maybe I’m not so different from them.

I started watching Toronto FC out of a love for soccer but today it’s more than that, BMO Field is home. I never expected to find such immediate comfort in a supporter’s group and be surrounded by so many women just like me. I joined the supporter’s section at the end of the 2015 season as a trial run and immediately felt at home. I had worried that in the most extreme section of the crowd I would find an even more masculine-charged atmosphere but instead I found one of inclusivity. I came for the soccer but now I stay for more than just the soccer but also for the family I’ve made there.

Although I joined the supporter’s section at BMO Field officially just last season, many of my comrades are day one supporters. Singing and cheering through everything. They speak of watching this team and feeling hope like never before. And they have always continued to sing. We remember our struggle and it helps us to celebrate our success.

From the day I joined the Kings in the North I’ve felt like I finally found my place. All of my emotions reflected back at me in the faces of the 3500 strong that comprise our supporter’s section. Soccer is an emotion and so is Toronto FC, one we all share. All for one team, all for one city, and all for one goal: the MLS Cup.

The North Remembers, we hold our history close to our hearts, we learn from our past, and we carve a future that will continue to make us proud to be Toronto FC.